WSJ Says Burger King Is Hurting Because Addicts Have Abandoned It

Burger King has suffered two consecutive quarters of declining sales, and a Wall Street Journal says the drop is due to hard-core “super fan” Burger King eaters shying away from the chain in favor of, gulp, possibly healthier choices.

A vignette about reformed super fan Noah, from the WSJ story:

The 28-year-old Seattle man used to wolf down bacon cheeseburgers three or four nights a week at Burger King, Jack in the Box and local bars. But he and his fiancee started cutting back last year after both were laid off, then found jobs at lower pay.

Now they cook at home using organic vegetables and dine out only on weekends. Mr. Rubin figures he is saving more than $100 a week by eating fewer burgers. “I don’t think we’ll go back to eating out as often as we used to,” he says. “We always used to talk about eating at home more, and now that it’s happened, we’ve found that we really enjoy it.”

It’s hard to go from Burger King to Whole Foods, and dubious to pinpoint such a phenomenon as a trend, but Noah’s story can’t be too pleasing to Burger King execs. The story says the company stumbled by focusing too much on the super fans while neglecting other demographics.

If you’ve stopped going to Burger King in the past several months, let us know why in the comments.